Saturday, January 06, 2007

Forgot about Dre

When I think about the failure of Wavelength, I'm comforted by the thought that it wasn't all my fault. There were others to share the blame. One of those people is Andre. He appeared at the studio after the third program and quickly became part of the show. Dre was a music producer, a record store worker, and a self-described "hip-hop junkie" who wasn't shy about expressing himself. Yeah, he was a problem.

He brought constant chaos, interjecting and interrupting my scripted wit with extraneous comment and opinion. Some days, it was hard to cast a complete thought. It was a odd chemistry that was combustible at times, but kept things interesting.

In an effort to contain him, I gave him a quarter of the show to do with as he pleased. He dubbed it "The Breaks" and brought on a parade of local rappers, producers and artists for interviews. It was integral part of Wavelength, but it didn't keep him in check. He never seemed to run out of things to say.

Dre drifted away from the show after our public access run ended in '96. How much did I miss him? When Wavelength debuted on broadcast television a year later, I brought in someone to pretend to interrupt me.